Speaking at the Ministry’s headquarters, Deputy Foreign Minister Jorge Rojas described the situation as serious, and considered that the maneuver against the president seeks to take that process to the Commission of Accusation of the House of Representatives and later to the Senate.
He warned that one of the objectives might be to promote Article 109 of the Constitution to declare the president unworthy and remove him from office. According to Rojas, it is a very dangerous procedure that begins by ignoring presidential immunity.
He then recalled what happened with Dilma Rousseff (2011-2016) in Brazil, who was removed from office with a similar procedure in less than 30 days.
“That is why from the Foreign Ministry we say, with full responsibility, but loud and clear, that we are in the presence of a coup against democracy and we have made this known to the diplomatic corps accredited in Colombia and to all the governments with which we have relations,” he stated.
The official expressed gratitude for the support from some governments in the region, especially that of Mexico and its president, Claudia Sheinbaum, who made a statement of solidarity with Petro.
“We act with great responsibility in the face of what is happening and we know that there is an intention, based on this specific fact of the CNE, of taking this political process to the Senate,” he stressed.
Rojas emphasized that Petro came to power with the support of more than 11 million Colombian voters.
The deputy foreign minister asserted that history is repeating itself regarding Petro, as something similar happened to him when he served as mayor of Bogota and was arbitrarily removed. Rojas recalled that at that time, those who promoted his ousting from office said that it was just a sanction, but they ended up removing him from the Mayor’s Office.
At the end of his speech, Rojas noted that the international community plays an important role in preserving democracy in Colombia.
On Tuesday, the CNE informed that it would file charges against the president for an alleged violation of the limits allowed to spend during his 2022 electoral campaign and the reception of funds from unauthorized sources.
After the announcement, Petro received multiple displays of support from social and union organizations, in rejection of what they consider to be the prelude to a coup d’état.
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